“This got off track a number of years ago. It’s now back on track,” Marshall said in announcing three contracts for the hospital at his office in the Sir Richard Squires Building.

“The scale and complexities of hospital construction require a tremendous amount of detailing and design. The work will ensure that we have a cutting-edge facility to provide the highest possible standard of care to the people of this region.”

The project was announced in 2007 and construction was expected to begin in 2012. While road and sewer work in the area has been done, there has been little progress on the project.

The money announced Thursday will be split between three contracts. The largest amount, $10.7 million, goes to a consortium of companies called the Corner Brook Care Team for the design of the new regional hospital. It is a joint venture of B+H, Montgomery Sisam Architects, PCL Construction and Marco Construction and has its own design team.

Marshall said the partnership will take the functional program that’s been completed and do the detailed design of all buildings that will make up the health-care campus, including the long-term care facility, acute-care building, administration building, central utilities building and hostel.

The design will be done in two packages, with the first being the long-term care and central utilities building. That portion of the design will be completed by late 2014 or early 2015, with construction set to begin in 2015.

During 2015 the consortium will continue working on the design of the other three buildings.

That work should be completed and go to tender by the fall of 2015, with construction of the acute-care hospital, administration building and hostel to start in 2016.

Keith Bowden, executive director of works with the Department of Transportation and Works, said the acute-care project should be completed, with patients in, by 2019, or 2020 at the latest in the event of delays.

While the long-term care facility will be ready before that, no date has been set to move residents in, as the area will still be an active construction site, Bowden said. Moving residents in will depend on what stage the construction of the remaining buildings is at, he added.

In addition to the design contract, two other contracts were awarded that will result in work at the site this summer.

Marine Contractors of Pasadena was awarded a $3.9-million contract for site excavation and grading, and an underground concrete water reservoir will be completed by Brook Construction of Corner Brook at a value of $2.9 million.